Do you love strawberry salad? Wait'll you try this strawberry gouda summer salad!!!
It's almost strawberry time and you'll love using your fresh picked berries in this light, flavorful strawberry gouda summer salad! The recipe came from our friend, Nancy, which is where we get quite a few of our favorites. 🙂
First though, here's my salad spinner, which I loooooove… The kids fight over spinning it, of course, but the bowl is cute and a perfect size for a summer picnic. It's also collapsible to save space! The best part is that it actually works, my last one was a piece of junk — it's funny how you appreciate the little things sometimes, huh? 
By the way, you don't only have to eat this in the summertime, obviously. If you can find some organic strawberries in the winter at your grocery store (or you're blessed enough to live where they are local for a longer period of time than we get them here in Michigan), then definitely indulge and make this more often, you won't be sorry…
Strawberry Gouda Summer Salad with Orange Poppyseed Dressing
Ingredients
Ingredients for strawberry gouda summer salad:
- Big bunch of your favorite crunchy lettuce, rinsed, drained and torn. I like organic romaine with a nice mix of other greens, too. Nancy's recipe also calls for spinach, and a little raw spinach now and then is no big deal, unless you have health issues, but here's why you don't want to make eating raw spinach a daily habit, such as in a morning smoothie… It contains something called oxalic acid, which blocks mineral absorption. Read about other veggies that should be lightly cooked before eating from Sarah. Also, here’s more info from Dr. Kaayla Daniel: Plants Bite Back.
- 1 quart organic strawberries, cleaned and sliced – strawberries are always high on the dirty dozen, right now it's number two, which is why buying organic is important.
- 8 ounces gouda cheese, cubed
- 1 cup crispy pecans or almonds , chopped
- feel free to add other chopped veggies if you have them: cucumbers, peppers, etc.
Ingredients for orange poppyseed dressing:
- 2/3-3/4 cup freshly squeezed organic orange juice-- about 3 oranges (or just organic OJ)
- 1 Tablespoon grated orange zest, from the oranges you got the juice from
- 5 Tablespoons olive oil and or avocado oil
- 1-2 Tablespoons local raw honey or maple syrup --click those links if you don't have a local source for those
- 1 Tablespoon poppyseeds
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder -- more to your taste preference
- 1/4 teaspoon sea salt -- taste to see if you'd like more to your preference
- 1/4 teaspoon paprika
- Dash of pepper to taste
Instructions
- Whisk dressing ingredients well and pour over salad ingredients. Let me know if you love it, too!
More you'll like:
- Click here for many more yummy salad recipe ideas!
- Or click here if you need some main dish meal ideas
Chris says
I had a salad yesterday with Strawberries and Arugula, it was quite good. I never thought those two would go together.
Sarah says
Hi Kelly,
We are stopping doing GAPS intro after 2 days. My daughter was having great struggles with blood sugar levels despite eating the foods. We are not a severe GAPS family (eczema, 1 child has milk allergy, and that is it). My husband felt it was too much for our family and not wise to continue. However, it did make us stop and realize how much we have been beginning to go back towards easy fixes and reliances on grains (sourdough pancakes, homemade cold cereal, soaked beans and white rice) too often. So we will be tweaking our diets towards where it should be again. It is amazing to realize how much we have fallen off so to say. A part of me is embarrassed to admit that we have already stopped but another part realizes it is not a competition and there needs to be no embarrassment. All of this too say, that I am looking at your salad, with my mouth watering…it is going to be dinner tonight!
Sarah says
My, oh, my, does that salad look good! I think that will be on our menu soon.
Chris says
You know I had a salad spinner much like that one but I thought “it” was pos. I have been looking for one with a handle instead of the pull cord. On mine the pull cord didn’t last but two months…